Black Passports

Stephanie Y. Evans

Description

In this resource guide for fostering youth empowerment, Stephanie Y. Evans offers creative commentary on two hundred autobiographies that contain African American travel memoirs of places around the world. The narratives are by such well-known figures as Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Billie Holiday, Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, Angela Davis, Condoleezza Rice, and President Barack Obama, as well as by many lesser-known travelers. The book addresses a variety of issues related to mentoring and curriculum development. It serves as a tool for "literary mentoring," where students of all ages can gain knowledge and wisdom from texts in the same way achieved by one-on-one mentoring, and it also provides ideas for incorporating these memoirs into lessons on history, geography, vocabulary, and writing. Focusing on four main mentoring themes—life, school, work, and cultural exchange—Evans encourages readers to comb the texts for models of how to manage attitudes, behaviors, and choices in order to be successful in transnational settings.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Prologue: “Wisdom Is the Best of All Treasures”: Adolescent Development and the ABCs of Power

1. Introduction: Literary Mentoring

2. Life

3. School

4. Work

5. Exchange

6. Conclusion: Writing Your Own Freedom Papers

Epilogue: Regeneration, A Song for Strong Bones

Appendix A: Alphabetical List
Appendix B: Passport Geography
Appendix C: Passport Vocabulary
Appendix D: Nenoku Poetry

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Ethnic studies
• Travel writing
• Indigenous peoples
• Cultures
• Général

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 14 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438451558
• Langue: English

Extrait

BLACK PASSPORTS
BLACK PASSPORTS
Travel Memoirs as a Tool for Youth Empowerment
STEPHANIE Y. EVANS
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Jenn Bennett Marketing by Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evans, Stephanie Y. Black passports : travel memoirs as a tool for youth empowerment / Stephanie Y. Evans. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-5153-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4384-5154-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Self-control. 2. Performance. 3. International travel. 4. Blacks—Social conditions. I. Title. BF632.E93 2014 305.896 073—dc23
2013025548
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedication To my husband, Curtis D. Byrd, a wise and kind man. Thank you for your passion and interminable will to live a full life. Thank you also for showing me the power of the one true force: LOVE. Sincerely yours, Yoda.
To my family, near and far. To grandmothers Mary Edmonds and Venella Byrd for your wit and vigor and especially to the young people in my family tree: this book is the most valuable gift I have to offer.
Credo
I believe Wisdom illuminates paths to empowerment Wisdom is a combination of guidance, self-control, and ethics
I define Wisdom as Heart Brains Courage
I write To empower youth
The time of the psychological passing over from boyhood to manhood is a movable feast. The legal date fixed on the twenty-first birthday has little or no connection with it. There are men in their teens, and there are boys in their forties. This passing over is not really across a line, but across a zone.
—James Weldon Johnson, Along This Way (1933)
As black American women … we have been as invisible to the dominant culture as rain; we have been knowers, but we have not been known…. Aframerican autobiographical tradition encompasses survival, search for public voice, personal fulfillment, and self-creation.
—Joanne Braxton, Black Women Writing Autobiography: A Tradition within a Tradition (1989)
[While studying in Germany,] the unity beneath all life clutched me. I was not less fanatically a Negro, but “Negro” meant a greater, broader sense of humanity and world fellowship. I felt myself standing, not against the world, but simply against American narrowness of color prejudice, with the greater, finer world at my back.
—W. E. B. Du Bois, Autobiography (1968)
you show us how to arrange our worldly selves
—Sonia Sanchez, Haiku (for Maya Angelou) (2010)
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOGUE: “Wisdom Is the Best of All Treasures”: Adolescent Development and the ABCs of Power
1. INTRODUCTION: Literary Mentoring
2. LIFE
3. SCHOOL
4. WORK
5. EXCHANGE
6. CONCLUSION: Writing Your Own Freedom Papers
EPILOGUE: Regeneration, A Song for Strong Bones
APPENDIX A: Alphabetical List
APPENDIX B: Passport Geography
APPENDIX C: Passport Vocabulary
APPENDIX D: Nenoku Poetry
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1.1. Ida B. Wells. 1897, Project Gutenberg Fig. 1.2. Frederick Douglass. circa 1879, National Archives and Records Administration Fig. 1.3. Anna J. Cooper. A Voice from the South , 1892. Book cover Fig. 1.4. W. E. B. Du Bois. 1918, Library of Congress, Cornelius Marion (C. M.) Battey, photographer Fig. 1.5. Katherine Dunham. 25 January 1956, Library of Congress Fig. 1.6. Dizzy Gillespie. Normandie, France 20 July 1991, Roland Godefroy, photographer Fig. 1.7. Jan Willis. Wesleyan Fig. 1.8. Malcolm X. Library of Congress, 12 March 1964 Fig. 1.9. Angela Davis. 15 October 2006, Hunter Kahn photographer Fig. 1.10. President Barack Obama. 14 January 2009, Pete Souza, the Obama-Biden Transition Project Fig. 1.11. Mae Jemison, 1992, Official NASA Photo, Endeavor Fig. 1.12. Jeff Henderson. 8 October 2008 , foodnetwork.com Fig. 4.1. Black Passports: Black Travel Memoirs. Online Resource. Stephanie Y. Evans, Library of Congress, Viewshare. http://viewshare.org/views/drevans/swag-diplomacy-black-travel-memoirs/ Fig. 4.2. Black Passports: Black Travel Memoirs. Online Resource. “W. E. B. Du Bois” search results. Stephanie Y. Evans, Library of Congress, Viewshare. http://viewshare.org/views/drevans/swag-diplomacy-black-travel-memoirs . Fig. 6.1. Stephanie Y. Evans. 1976, Passport Photo, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.2. Stephanie Y. Evans. 1987, Palo Verde High School Prom, Tucson, Arizona, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.3. Mr. and Mrs. Byrd. 2011, La Coupole Restaurant, Paris, France, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.4. University of Florida Students: “TEAM,” 2007. UF Paris Research Center, Reed Hall, Paris, France, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.5. University of Florida Students: “CHUUCH.” 2010, with Ricki Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas Monument, Paris, France, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.6. University of Florida Students, “JEWELS.” 2011, Place de la Sorbonne, Paris, France, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.7. University of Florida Students, “Sally’s Daughters.” 2007, with Thomas Jefferson Portrait, Hôtel Langeac , 92 ChampsÉlysées . Author’s Collection Fig. 6.8. University of Florida Students, “Café Memoirs.” 2011, l‘Autre Bistro , 22 bis rue de Ecole . Author’s Collection Fig. 6.9. Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans. 2007, “Give Thanks,” Black Women in the Ivory Tower Book Signing Party, Gainesville, Florida, Author’s Collection Fig. 6.10. Letter to Gramms, 1972. Author’s Collection Fig. 6.11. Saroya Corbett. http://www.dunhamcertification.org/Bio-Saroya.html Fig 6.12. Frank Moten. Brigette Hein photographer. http://www.frankmoten.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T his book was made possible by research funding provided by the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Colonel Allan and Margaret Crow Professor Award, 2010–11. Many thanks to Sharon Burney for her assistance in securing necessary sources in the early stages of this work. Parts of this research have been discussed at the following gatherings: Columbia University, Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women Conference (April 2011); Harvard University, Think Tank on Global Education (May 2011); Clark Atlanta University, Pearly Dove Lecture (March 2012); Clark Atlanta University, W. E. B. Du Bois Major Works Seminar on Autobiography (July 2012); the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, PA (September 2012); and Collegium for African American Research (CAAR) at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia (March 2013).
Development of the Swag Diplomacy Viewshare online database was made possible by collaboration with the Emory University Digital Scholarship Commons (DiSC) Research Center and support from the Clark Atlanta University College of Education with technology support provided by the Clark Atlanta University Faculty Development Center. Thank you to Moya Bailey, Whitney Peoples, and Yvonne Nash for assistance in formatting and expanding the online resource. Thanks to Library of Congress staff for highlighting the Swag Diplomacy project in online publications to expand its usage. Special thanks to the African American Studies, Africana Women’s Studies, and History (AWH) Department and the CAU community for encouragement and inspiration.
Many thanks to those who have offered substantive insight on working drafts, especially Dr. Natalie Graham, Dr. Charmayne Patterson, and Christy Garrison-Harrison. Thanks also to Augustus Wood, Esther Pervil, LaSella Hall, Tami Wheeler, Ondrea Rhymes, Tiana Thompson, and Faren Manuel for detailed comments, and Markiana Jackson, Michael Decuir, and Jaimi Carter for general feedback. Last, thanks to SUNY Press reviewers whose generous and detailed comments helped guide the editing process with care, compassion, and thoughtful critique. I am grateful to Beth Bouloukos at SUNY Press for her patience and support of this project, the SUNY editorial and production teams, and to editor Liz Pulcini for much-needed assistance in preparing this manuscript.
To my teachers, mentors, and role models: your guidance gave me a “window seat” to the world, and “I’m international because of you.”
To my students: thank you for continuing to teach me about the joy and pain of lifelong learning.
To Dr. Erika Camacho: Mr. Escalante would be so proud of who you are, as a mathematician and a teacher. Thank you for challenging me to find the ganas to share my own story. Last, thanks to Saroya Corbett (mentee of Katherine Dunham) and Frank Moten (mentee of Dizzy Gillespie) for sharing their stories of how to continue legacies of creativity.
PROLOGUE
“Wisdom Is the Best of All Treasures”: Adolescent Development and the ABCs of Power
T he Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon’s court is recorded in numerous ancient texts, from the Bible to the Qur’ān. Makeda, as she is known in Ethiopia, traveled to Jerusalem to test Solomon’s wisdom. One of the riddles she asked was how to distinguish girls from boys:
Various boys and girls, all of a tender age, of the same height and dressed identically were placed before him, whereupon she said, “Distinguish the males from the females.” At Solomon’s command, nuts and roasted corns were distr